If You Don't Keep Your Feet
by Two Girls anda Little Insanity
Summary: When Jo discovers that Middle Earth is actually IN a rock in OUR earth, no one believes her. When her child is accidently born there, Jo learns that it's a dangerous business to go out your door, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no telling where y


Joanna Johanson went by the nickname 'Jo'. Her husband, Todd, called her 'Jo-Jo', but he was the only one crazy enough and silly enough to do it.  
  
"Come on. Work," Jo stared at her arm, bright blue eyes intense. "Work, work, work, work…." Why wasn't it happening?  
  
Then it started.  
  
All of a sudden Jo's arm started to change. Instead of the pale human arm, it had started morphing into a cat's paw.  
  
"Yes…." Hissed Jo, as her eyes lit up in delight. "Yes…." That was when her other arm began to change. Instead of human arms, Jo now had two cat paws. Then it stopped.  
  
"No! Don't!" shrieked the female Scientist. But the warning came too late, and it wouldn't have helped anyway, Jo's arms stopped morphing and in five seconds were back to normal.  
  
"NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!" Twenty-five year old Jo thumped on her Science table in intense anger, the noise so loud it echoed down the hall. "NO! NO! NO! EVERYTHING WAS JUST RIGHT?! WHY DIDN'T WORK!" After a few minutes, Jo's fists were red from pounding her Science table. With a long sigh she stopped yelling and thumping out her anger and disappointment. Why hadn't it worked?  
  
"Whew! What's that smell?" Todd walked into the room and wrinkled his nose. "Did something die in here?"  
  
"No," snapped Jo, looking up some chemical formulas in one of her books.  
  
"I heard you yelling that word down the hall. Can't a man use the can without hearing his wife shrieking 'No' about a hundred times?" grinned Todd. Then his face went serious (something not often seen), "What's wrong, Jo-Jo?"  
  
All Jo did was purse her lips together and continued looking up formulas.  
  
"Ah," Todd walked up to her and started to give her a shoulder massage. "Come on, Honey, tell me what's the matter?"-he grinned- "The baby kicking again?"  
  
Delicately, Jo's hand cascaded down her belly where her baby had been growing for the past eight and a half months. It was almost time for he/she to be born. Just the thought of her baby made Jo smile.  
  
"Hey!" Todd continued with her massage. "You smiled! Good for you! Three seconds ago you looked like you were going to kill something. It already smells like you did. Whew! You look stressed."  
  
"I am stressed."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"I was just frustrated. It didn't work this time."  
  
"Oh, your little experiment? The morphing into animals thing?"  
  
"Yes. It's worked many times before. But I just can't seem to morph cats. And it's driving me crazy."  
  
"You perfectionist," Todd gently teased. "Which one of our cats were you trying to morph?"  
  
"Mr. Bigglesworth," Jo hated how Todd was such an 'Austin Powers' fan.  
  
"Ah, good ol' Mr. Bigglesworth. Why can't you do cats?"  
  
"I don't know. I've done a bunch of other animals. It's just"- she gave a sigh- "cats." She was beginning to hate them.  
  
"How about we go to the park across the street," suggested Todd. He gently placed his hand on Jo's belly and grinned. "Give you and our baby a break, huh, my little wife?"  
  
Jo laughed softly and nodded. "We can go to the duck pond." Joanna's favorite spot in the world was the duck pond.  
  
"Of course," Todd played with a strand of Jo's long, dark brown hair. Jo's looks were very contrasting, with her dark brown hair and deathly pale skin. But she was beautiful, looking sort of like a porcelain doll. "I bet the baby will be a famous Scientist, just like you."  
  
"Or a comedian, like you."  
  
"Heaven forbid. Enough comedians in this world."  
  
Jo laughed and gave Todd a peck on the cheek. He was so silly. How she loved him.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Splash!  
  
"You're getting me wet, Todd."  
  
Splash!  
  
"Todd, you're getting me wet. Todd!"  
  
Splash!  
  
"Todd Jefferson Johanson stop throwing stones in the pond this instance!"  
  
"Yes, ma'am," Todd was laughing hysterically. One last time, he threw a rock into the duck pond. Grinning at Jo, he went to sit next to her on the only bench right next to the pond. Bright red leaves littered the quiet duck pond. The chilly nip in the air reminded the couple that fall was near.  
  
"Now, I'm wet," pouted Jo.  
  
"You're not too wet."  
  
"Why were throwing rocks into the pond, anyway?"  
  
"I was seeing how many rocks it would take for you to use my full name."  
  
A sigh escaped Jo's lips. Todd laughed.  
  
He bent down again, and his right hand groped for another rock.  
  
"Don't you dare," warned Jo, glaring at her husband.  
  
With a laugh, Todd picked up the rock anyway. Then, all of a sudden, his face changed. The jocular, silly, I'm-going-laugh-till-I-puke smile on Todd's face had disappeared, and was replaced by a look of surprise mixed with anguish.  
  
"Ah!" Todd gave a cry, instantly letting go of the rock. Surprised and confused, Todd stared at the strange stone. 'It's smaller than his fist,' Jo thought. 'Why'd he drop it like that?'  
  
Jo stared at her husband. "Todd? Honey? What's wrong?"  
  
Like his right hand itched or something, Todd rubbed it against his jeans. "Hm, that was strange."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Don't get excited. You'll scare the baby."  
  
Jo narrowed her eyes. "You're avoiding something."  
  
Shrugging, Todd wrapped his L.A. Lakers jacket closer around him. "Maybe."  
  
"Why'd you drop the rock so suddenly?"  
  
"Because it was warm," Todd looked up at the Autumn sky.  
  
"Warm?" frowned Jo. "On a day like this. It's so chilly."  
  
"I tell you, it was warm. But it wasn't just warm. It was HOT. REALLY hot. It burned me," Todd showed Jo his right hand as proof.  
  
Red burn marks were branded into his hand. Jo frowned and gently traced the burn with her finger.  
  
"Ouch!" Todd jerked his hand from Jo's touch. "Don't do that. That hurts."  
  
"Where's the stone now?"  
  
"It's somewhere on the ground where I so hastily dropped it."  
  
"Find it. I want to examine it."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Please find it."  
  
"I'm not touching it again. That was some weirdo rock. I don't know why it would be so hot on such a cold day. Just doesn't make sense."  
  
"That's why I want to examine it. Here"- Jo provided Todd with her scarf- "Wrap it in this."  
  
After five minutes Todd found the stone again. Finding it wasn't as hard as he thought it would be. It was the only rock that was glowing.  
  
Gently, he wrapped Jo's scarf around the rock, like one would wrap a Christmas present. Then he went to sit on the bench again. After seating himself back on the bench he looked down at the rock wrapped in the scarf. And his eyes nearly bugged out of his head.  
  
The stone had just about burned a hole through the scarf.  
  
"Let's go home," murmured Jo, her blue eyes intense and filled with curiosity. "I want to examine this rock. I have a feeling there's something inside it. Something never before discovered."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Frodo Baggins sat up in bed. Something was wrong. Dreadfully wrong. It felt as if he was moving, but he knew he wasn't. What was going on?  
  
He remembered his Uncle Bilbo's favorite saying: "It's a dangerous business going out your door," Bilbo Baggins would say, "You step on the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might get swept off, too."  
  
Frodo hadn't gone out of his door, but he knew something was wrong. Somehow, he knew Middle-Earth would be disturbed. Troubles were ahead.  
  
"But I'll keep my feet," he mumbled to himself. "No matter what, I'll keep my feet."  
  
With that, he fell back to sleep.  
  
  
  
Thank you for reading! Please review! Look out for the next chapter, coming soon.  
  
Here is a snippet from the next chapter… (just to keep you interested :-D):  
  
"There's another world in that rock!"  
  
"You're joking."  
  
"I'm not, Todd!" sobbed Jo. "I'm not!"  
  
SO KEEP ON READING!! THANK YOU!!! PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW!!!! 


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